The under-construction cricket stadium at the golf course in Cox’s Bazar is not a permanent structure and should be removed after the ICC World
Twenty20 tournament next year, officials said on Thursday.
Retired lieutenant colonel Faruk Khan, the civil aviation and tourism minister, said that the land has already been allocated to an international hotel chain for the construction of a five-star hotel under the public-private partnership agreement and that the permanent stadium should built in another location in the beach town.
The stunning revelation came after a meeting between officials from the Bangladesh Cricket Board and the tourism ministry at the secretariat regarding the forthcoming ICC World Twenty20, which Bangladesh will host in April next year.
It was earlier reported that the BCB would develop a full-fledged sports complex at the venue following the tournament as per a directive from Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina.
‘The site, Saibal [golf course], has already been granted for a five-star hotel and an international resort under the PPP, and we are all set to start the work,’ Faruk told reporters after the meeting.
‘Let the Twenty20 cricket happen there, as hardly any infrastructure development will occur for the competition. There will be a temporary pitch, while the dressing rooms will be pre-fabricated,’ he said.
‘The proper stadium should be done in a beautiful location in Cox’s Bazar after consulting every concerned authority,’ he added.
BCB president Nazmul Hasan admitted to there being a communication gap between the BCB and the tourism ministry, which actually owns the Saibal golf course land.
‘There was some confusion regarding the Cox’s Bazar Stadium. Today [Thursday] we realised that there was no formal discussion between us and thus the gap was created,’ said Nazmul.
‘We have decided to work together to complete the stadium in time. There are a lot of issues concerning the land for the stadium. We have to work according to the original plan regarding exactly where the stadium would be located [for the tournament],’ he said.
‘The land transfer [for the permanent stadium] will be time-consuming and should not halt the [T20] World Cup, so we have decided to discuss where the [permanent] stadium will be constructed at a later date,’ he added.
Nazmul also dismissed the possibility of constructing a stadium owned and financed by the BCB, as declared earlier.
‘The funds required would be huge, as much as Tk 150 crore to Tk 200 crore, and the BCB cannot afford that. We decided to make a minimal investment for this stadium, though it should have been done by the NSC,’ he added.
‘We are doing this because if the NSC was brought in they would have started a tender procedure, which would have been time consuming,’ he said.
The women’s leg of the tournament, comprising 10 teams, will be held in Cox’s Bazar. An ICC inspection team will visit the venue in August, which has prompted the BCB to expedite the development works.
-With New Age input
